Quiringh van Brekelenkam, 'A Woman Asleep by a Fire', about 1648
About the work
Overview
There are lots of examples in Dutch seventeenth-century painting of artists using images of sleeping women for satirical purposes – to emphasise neglect of their moral duties. That is not the case here. Van Brekelenkam was more concerned with paying homage to diligent housekeepers: this woman has clearly not fallen asleep through drunkeness, laziness or neglect but because she is tired from work. Her kitchen is neat and ordered and she has laid out supper on a neatly pressed linen cloth. Her domestic chores done, she has nodded off while studying the Bible.
One slightly jarring note is hinted at, however. The relief on the stoneware jug shows Adam and Eve standing before God in the Garden of Eden. It is a reminder that, according to the Bible, it was a woman, Eve, who first disobeyed God and brought shame and sin into the world.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Woman Asleep by a Fire
- Artist
- Quiringh van Brekelenkam
- Artist dates
- active 1644; died 1668
- Date made
- about 1648
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 43.7 × 32.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2550
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1840Galerie de M. Schamp d'Aveschoot, Catalogue des tableaux des écoles flamande, hollandaise, italienne, française et espagnole, qui composent la magnifique galerie délaissée par M. Schamp d'Aveschoot, Ghent, 14ff September 1840
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1974R. Loche, De Genéve à l'Ermitage: Les collections de François Tronchin (exh. cat. Musée Rath, 21 June - 15 September 1974), Geneva 1974
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1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
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1992A. Lasius, Quiringh Gerritsz. Van Brekelenkam: Laborers and Tradesmen in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting: Images of the World: Dutch Genre Painting in Its Historical Context, eds C. Brown and M. Stevens, Doornspijk 1992
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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